Rotary fruit feeder



y 1953 L. A. WELLS 2,644,568

ROTARY FRUIT FEEDER Original Filed Nov. 12, 1948 E 4 Sheets-Sheet l fiVl i/WM. 110w AWQL;

July 7, 1953 L. A. WELLS" I 44, 8

ROTARY FRUIT FEEDER Original Filed Nov. 12, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 7, 1953 I A. WELLS 2,544,563

ROTARY FRUIT FEEDER Original Filed Nov. 12, I948 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IIIIIIHIIIII n mad/wok. Z Z 0 V214. Wu 1. s

AWTOR/Vi V5 y 7, 1953 A. WELLS 2,644,568

ROTARY' FRUIT-FEEDER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Original Filed Nov. 12, 1948 KL w m a M MW K V. w W W Patented July 7, 195 3 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFICE11 2,644,568 ROTARY FRUIT FEEDER.

Lloyd A. Wells, Long Beach, cm, assignor to. y

Brown Citrus. Machinery 'Oorporation,-Wl 1it tier, Calif., a corporation' of California Original application November 12, l948,'Serial No. 59,477. Divided and this application April r 25, 1952, Serial No. 284,369

6 Claims. (Cl. 198-30) 7 This invention relates to a fruit cutting and juice extracting machine, particularly for citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, grapefruit and the like. This application is a division of my copending application, Serial No. 59,477, filed November 12, 1948.

.An object of my invention is to provide a novel commercial machine which is used in large plants and where large quantities of fruit arev passed through the machine daily.

Another object of my invention is toprovide novel machine of the character stated in which the fruit is fed into a. pair of complementary belts, the belts converging and diverging during rotation thereof, to permit, various operations on the fruit held in the belts. I f

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel machine of the character stated in which a fruit feeding wheel is provided, wherein the fruit is moved into position to be grasped by cups in a flexible belt, this feed wheel being rotated by movement of the fruit holding belts.

A feature of my invention is to provide a novel means of ejecting the rind of the fruit after the juice has been extracted, this ejector being actuated by movement of the belts which grasp the fruit sections.

Qther objects, advantages and features of in vention may appear from the accompanying drawings, the subjoined detailed description and the appended claims.

In the drawings, I n

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of my machine taken on lines l--l of Fig. 6.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of one.

of the belts showing the cup construction.

Fig. 3 is an end view of one of the cups form ing the belt.

. Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of one of the hollow pins connecting the cups.

Fig.6 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of my machine.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the fruit feeder wheel.

Fig.8 is a sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. '7.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of the rear or driving end of the machine.

Fig. 10 is a sectional view taken on the line [0-10 of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a fragmentary view taken on'the line lll| of Fig. 9.

Fig. 12 is a fragmentary side view of the front end of the machine showing the cutting knife.

Fig. 13 is an enlarged view of .the'knife. r

Fig. 14 isa sectional view taken on, the'line I4-l4 of Fig. 12. I

Fig. 15 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the fragmentary sectional belts showing the star wheel ejector.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, my fruit cutting and juice extracting machine comprises a frame I in whicha pairof conveyor belts 2+3 are rotatably mounted; "Each cone veyor consists of a plurality of cups which are pivotally.v connected. together as will fbe 'subsef quently described, and each cup forming. insubstance a link of the completed chain-like 'conveyor. Each cup on a conveyor is complemenformed of rubberor plastic and each cup has a metal reinforcing 5 around the periphery ofthe opening thereinand each cup is also provided with outwardly extending ears 6-4, the" ears being drilled to receive a hollow pin Bjthe piire pose of which will be subsequently described;

The conveyor -2 moves over a 'pair ofgpulleys' 9 I0,, the pulley 9 beingformed as aring and.

is journaled on a race H,which is attached to aframe arm 12 of the machine. The pulley 10 is journaled on a shaft 13, which is fixedly mount-f ed in the frame 1 of the machine, It is tobe noted that the pulleys 9|0 are'at an angle to each other, thus causing the conveyor 2 to move towards the conveyor 3 atboth ends of the machine, as is best shownin Fig. 6. In the center portion of the machine the conveyors 2-3 are a suitable distance apart and the purpose of this construction will be subsequently described. I

The conveyor 3 moves over a pair of pulleys eys 9l0, I l-15 are all freely rotatable on their respective journals and the conveyors 2,-3 are continuously rotated by the juice head, as will be subsequently described. The fruitis fed into the front end of the machine by a feeder wheel l6, which consists of a ring or plate I! journaled on a shaft l8. The shaft l 8-;is mountoutside of the ring 11 and the fruit is first fed into the inside of the ring l1 by means of a chute or hopper 22. A stationary baffle or rail 23 formed of a narrow strip of metal extends along the inner side of the openings 2| at the top side of the wheel I3 and at the lower end of thewheel.

This rail or guide is positioned adjacent the outer end of the openings 2! and is generally helical or spiral in shape, extending at one end from the periphery of the upper-portion of the plate to the other end which is spaced inwardly from the periphery of the plate. 24 through which the fruit passes. vSecured to the webs 2G andparallel to the plate 11 is an annular cover member 11a which defines, with the upper portion of the rail 23 and plate l1, a substantially U-shaped channel for the reception of the fruit. As the wheel 16 rotates, the fruit is supported on the rail 23 at the top and also by the rail at the bottom. The webs extend outwardly from the periphery of the wheel [6 and are contacted by the individual cups '4 to cause the wheel 'to be rotated in synchronism with the movement of the conveyors and in the direction of the arrows in Figure 1. As this wheel then moves in the direction shown by the arrows in Figure 1, the fruit will tend to drop outwardly but is restrained from falling out of the wheel by the arcuate fingers 25 which are preferably formed of wire. These fingers hold the fruit within the receptacles 21 until the fruit moves to a position where a pair of cups 4 on the conveyors 2-3 will move inwardly, thus backing up the fruit between two cups and then continued movement of the conveyors 2-3 will move the fruit across the fixed slicing knife 26. which is positioned between the cups 4 on the conveyors 2-3, as shown in Figs. 6 and 14, and the fruit will be cut in halves, leaving a half of the fruit in each of the complementary cup sections, until the fruit is conveyed to the juicing head 21. While the fruit is being carried along the bottom reaches of the conveyors 2-3, the fruit is held in each of the cups 4 by fixed guides or baffle plates 28-29. The juice trough 30 extends under the lower reaches of the conveyors 2-3 and terminates in a discharge spout 3| in the rear of the machine. A vertical wall 32 separates the front and rear of the machine so that the discharged rind of the fruit will fall out through the bottom of the machine and will not drop forwardly into the juice outlet spout 3|.

The juicing head 21 consists of a plurality of circumferentially spaced reamers 33, these reamers being positioned on both sides of a cylindrical head 34. The head 34 is power driven in the following manner: a shaft 35 is fixedly mounted in the frame I of the machine. The head 34 is journaled on this shaft by meansof a sleeve 33. A gear 31 is fixedly attached to the sleeve 36 and a driving gear 38 meshes with the gear 31 and the driving gear 39 in turn is rotated by the motor 39. Thus, thehead 34 is continuously rotated and the reamers 33 are rotated in geared relation to the head 34 by the following arrangement: Each reamer has a gear 40 secured thereto and all of the gears 40 engage a ring gear 41, which gear is fixedly mounted on the stationary shaft 35. A plurality of spaced This leaves a space the reamers will enter a cup 4.

4 pins 42 project from both phases of the head 34 and these pins enter the hollow connecting pins 8, thus driving both of the conveyors 2-3 synchronously with the head 34. The reamers 33 are so spaced that a reamer will enter each of the cups 4 as the cups move toward each other due to the angular position of the pulleys 9 and 14. Figure 9 illustrates the fact that the reamers 33 will gradually enter the cups 4 and will gradually move into the pulpy mass of the fruit, thussqueezing the juice from the fruit as well as reaming some of the pulp from the fruit. The frames 'l2'of the conveyors 2-3 can be adjusted horizontally 'to determine the distance which This horizontal adjustment of the frame 12 is accomplished by threading a sleeve nut 43 into an internally threaded nut 44 which bears against the side of the frame l2 and moves this frame against a spring 45. The sleeve 43 is rotated by a shaft 46 which is manually rotated when adjustment is necessary. The juice and other material ob-v tained from the fruit drops downwardly into the trough 30 and pours out throughthe spout 3|.

After the juice and certainportions of the pulp has been removed by the operation of the juicer head 21, the conveyors 2-3 continue to rotate and'the cups 4 will carry the rind of the fruit until the star wheels 41-48 are reached. Each of the star wheels is freely rotatable on the frame of the machine and the arms of the star wheels enter slots 49 in the cups, thus causing an arm of the star wheel to'press against the rind pushing the same inwardly and ejects it from the cup. The rind'falls back of the baflles or wall 32 and drops downwardly through the machine into a suitable receptacle (not shown). It is to be noted that the star wheels 41-48 are caused to rotate by the movement of the conveyors 2-3; the arms of the star wheels being so spaced so that one arm is always within a slot 49 of one of the cups 4.

In operation fruit is fed through the chute 22, into the feed wheel' i6. The motor39 is now started, causing the juicer head 21 to rotate through the gears 31-38. Rotation of the juicer head will cause rotation of the reamers 33', as previously described. Also, the pins 42 will engage the various hollow pins 8, thus simultaneously driving the conduits 2-3 and also causing these conduits to move synchronously so that the complementary cups '4 in the two conveyors will always match to form a complete hollow spherical cup. Movement of the cups 4 g in the conveyors 2-3'will compress against properly positioned fruit in the bottom of the feed wheel It, thus causing the cups to grip the" fruit and also causing the wheel l5 to be rotated synchronously with the conveyors 2-3. The fruit held in the cup's'4 is now carried past the knife 29 which cuts the fruit in two. The fruit halves are now held in the cups by the'bafilesj' 28-29 until the juicer head 21 is reached and-at'this time the two conveyors converge causing the reamers 33 to enter the cups with the fruit half therein; thereby squeezing out the juice and removing some of the edible pulp. The juice drops downwardly .into th'ej trough 30' and then pours out through the discharge spout 31. The

non-edible rind is" retained in the cups. andthe star. wheels 41-48 eject this rindandfthereafter with, and a stationary baffie extending through 2. A fruit feeding device for a juice extracting machine comprising the combination of a substantially vertical plate mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, a plurality of radial webs mounted on one side of the plate, each pair of adjacent webs defining therebetween a fruit-receiving pocket, each web having a central slot, and a stationary baffle extending through the slots in said webs, said baflie being substantially helical in shape and extending from one end thereof at the outer periphery of the upper portion of said plate to the other end thereof inwardly of the outer edge of said plate, the two ends of said baffle being spaced to provide an opening for the passage of fruit therebetween.

3. A fruit feeding device for a juice extracting machine comprising the combination of a substantially vertical plate mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, a plurality of radial webs secured to one side of the plate, each web having a slot therein, and a stationary bafile extending through the slots in said webs, said baffie being substantially helical in shape and extending from one end thereof at the outer edge of the plate to the other end thereof adjacent to the first end and inwardly of the outer edge of said plate, the ends of said baffle being spaced to providean opening for the passage of fruit therebetween.

4. A fruit feeding device for a juice extracting machine comprising the combination of a substantially vertical circular plate mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, a

plurality of radial webs mounted on one side of a stationary bafile extending through the slots in said webs, said baflie being substantially helical in shape and extending from one end thereof at the outer periphery of the upper portion of said plate to the other end thereof inwardly of the outer edge of said plate, the two ends of said bafile being spaced to provide an opening for the passage of fruit therebetween, said plate and cover member forming with the upper portion of said bafile a substantially U-shaped channel for the reception of fruit, and a stationary arcuate guide member positioned outwardly from the periphery of the plate.

5. A fruit feeding device for a juice extracting machine comprising the combination of a substantially vertical plate mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, a plurality of radial webs mounted on one side of the plate and extending outwardly from the periphery of said plate, each pair of adjacent webs defining therebetween a fruit-receiving pocket, each web having a central slot, and a stationary baffle extending through the slots in said webs, said bafile being substantially helical in shape and extending from one end thereof at the outer periphery of the upper portion of said plate to the other end thereof inwardly of the outer edge of said plate, the two ends of said baffle being spaced to provide an opening for the passage of fruit therebetween.

6. A fruit feeding device for a juice extracting machine comprising the combination of a substantially vertical circular plate mounted for rotation about a substantially horizontal axis, a plurality of radial webs mounted on one side of the plate with the outer ends thereof extending beyond the periphery of said plate and the inner ends thereof terminating a substantial distance from the axis of said plate, each pair of adjacent webs defining therebetween a fruit-receiving pocket, each web having a central slot, an annular cover member mounted substantially parallel to said plate and overlying said webs for rotation therewith, a stationary bafiie extending through the slots in said webs, said baffie being substantially helical in shape and extending from one end thereof at the outer periphery of the upper portion of said plate to the other end thereof inwardly of the outer edge of said plate, the two ends of said baflie being spaced to provide an opening for the passage of fruit therebetween, said plate and cover member forming with the upper portion of said baffle a substantially U-shaped channel for the reception of fruit, and a stationary arcuate guide member positioned outwardly from the periphery of the plate.

LLOYD A. WELLS.

No references cited. 

